The concern that doctoral programs in the arts and sciences do not adequately prepare students for careers as faculty members is hardly a new one, but it has become urgent. Colleges and universities in United States are facing the impending retirement of large numbers of faculty members and need to replace them with qualified professionals, on or off the tenure track. The life of a faculty member--whether at a research university or a community college--requires balancing a number of roles and responsibilities in an evolving and stressful context. The preparation of graduate students for the modern professoriate must be rethought if the next generation of faculty members will be able to integrate their roles and serve as leaders of their disciplines and institutions. In this article, the author argues that the theoretical perspectives that are reshaping professional education may have considerable traction in helping rethink and recast traditional doctoral education. These ideas may be particularly fruitful in considering how future faculty should be prepared.